Labour School Posting

As you read this I am at school….Labour School that is. When I told my coworkers I was going to learn how to argue and be assertive it provoked howls of laughter. No, no, collective agreements, negotiating and grievances are on the program. It’s a national conference at St. F. X in Antigonish with people and ideas from across Canada. Instead of a banquet there is a BBQ which is more my style as it is easier to pack jeans than dresses. I’m using two of my days off (good thing this is a 5 day off stretch) and have the LD on Wednesday granted. I’ll be back late Wednesday p.m. and back to work a LD on Thursday.

I am feeling sorry for having misled a friend as I had offered to drive her son and daughter-in-law back to the city on my way by on Sunday. This of course was because I thought the registration was then and classes began Monday morning. When I opened the binder Sun. morning I discovered that registration begins late Mon. afternoon with the opening session at 7 p.m. so no need to head up until after lunch. I felt like a big dope when I had to renege on my promise and more so as my friend was very gracious about the mix up. As the shore captain said “how did you manage to screw that up so completely?” This is what you get when you don’t check closely enough.
After I realized I didn’t have to get out on the road, the father of the bride and I spent the afternoon printing the labels for the wedding wine. And it went so well (not) that I used up ½ package of the labels just trying to get them centered. So one of my stops along the way tomorrow is for another package of them. I called the shop to see if there were any in stock and the clerk told me that folks either love or hate the commercial labels and that problems seem to be related to which software is used. Today I would count myself in the latter group as I muttered about MS Word for several hours this afternoon. Good thing we didn’t leave it any closer to the big day.

I have the flower girl dresses just about settled away and the new sewing machine is getting a workout. One is complete and awaiting a fitting this week, so I will connect with the bride-to-be on the way back through and leave it with her, the other is almost finished but I ran out of thread this evening so sourcing that is on the list as well. I dropped the flower girls baskets off at the florist on Saturday morning and they will fill them with silk flowers I think she said – artificial would certainly be a good choice with preschoolers.

Had a pretty good set of shifts last week and a good sleep in between my nights so a coworker and I got the idea to have breakfast after our last night and hit the town wide yard sale which was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. We stopped at The Loyalist Inn - here is the website to check it out for yourself:

http://www.theloyalistinn.com/

it's in town and has been renovated to look like a pub and now serves breakfast (beginning at 7 a.m.) and lunch. We had huge, delicious, reasonably priced breakfasts and then starting hitting the sales. I scored a dozen mugs (as the men in this house think they’re disposable) for under $4, a cake dish, two great pairs of shoes, three suitcases for $1 each and one for free, and the find of the day was dark blue patterned fabric to cover the cushions on the window seat in the living room for only $8 as well as some great stuff at the drugstore for 75 % off. Haven’t seen so many people in town since the last same event last year. We hung in until the forecasted rain drops began to fall and then I headed up to get some groceries. When I couldn’t find a parking place at the mall I called it quits as I didn’t have the stamina to elbow my way through the aisles and headed home for an afternoon of napping. There was not one pot or pan to be seen in the entire set of sales which I didn’t expect as last year there were lots. I will have to keep my eyes peeled on the road / Frenchy’s for the baby daughter as she ‘doesn’t like to brag but is becoming a pretty good cook’ and the room mate who is not returning is the one with the pots and pans.

I tried to sneak in last night and retrieve my ebook reader as the shore captain was snoring and I have to wait until he falls asleep to use it myself. He asked that I leave it home with him as he’s just getting into the classic novel he’s started. Might have to buy him one of his own if he keeps monopolizing this one.

As the appointment for high speed connection approaches I am counting down the days. Just think by Friday perhaps I won’t have to sit outside the library to post this blog eh? My one neighbour who has gotten hooked up claims the signal is excellent and he's about a km further away from the tower so all digits crossed.